Meet Allison Stewart | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Allison Stewart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Allison, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk is an integral part of being an artist. If you don’t take risks, your work will stagnate. One of my favorite quotes by an artist is about taking risks and I keep it written on the first page of my sketchbook:

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I’ve never let it keep me from a single thing that I wanted to do.” -Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe was the ultimate cool artist and has always been a hero of mine. She was adventurous, well respected and well collected. She dressed in black and lived alone in the desert like a monk after Alfred Stieglitz died – until she hired that handsome young assistant when she was in her 80s! Terrified is not a word I would have ever associated her with. But there it is in quotations. She was afraid but she did it all anyway. Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather, doing something while you are afraid. Living your life as an artist demands courage. Without courage we cannot take the risks we need to take to develop our work. I would rather regret things I have done poorly than regret not trying at all.

My BFA was in Studio Art with a focus on Painting and a minor in Art History but my MFA is in Photography. Before I switched mediums I was already showing my paintings and had several collectors, so moving from painting to photography was a huge risk. Not all of my collectors understood what I was doing and I lost their support. But I knew that the paintings I had been making should have been photographs so I pressed on.

When I was making photographs of preppers for my Bug Out Bag project I was traveling all over the country and meeting with strangers in various places, both public and private. I usually travelled alone and my friends and family always worried about me taking too many risks. I was already receiving angry emails from people like “Grey Wolf” and “Patriot974” who didn’t like the project and felt the need to tell me. The rise of the far right and the division I was witnessing in my previous project American Anthem had hit a crescendo. As I traveled the US I realized that many Americans were living in a state of constant fear and their fear was being used to sell products designed to divide us even more. Not all of the preppers I met were from the far right, as most people expected. The project is about what we have in common rather than what divides us. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get close to mending our division, and the fear and distrust has led to hate and violence. I am thankful that I did the project when I did because I would not be able to make that project today.

After critiquing the archetype of the soldier and male hero for over a decade, I have taken another risk and shifted my work again. This time I have turned my focus away from the politics of the soldier and onto the archetype of the witch. I am traveling and documenting the practices of self-identifying witches as they seek to re-enchant the world through magic. I am having a great time and feel certain that I am following the right path.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When I was about 7 I told my family “I am an artist” and I never considered any other pathway for my life. I have definitely had moments where I wondered if my life would have been easier had I pursued a career with more stability, but I doubt I would be happier. I am a very curious person and I have wanderlust, so traveling and making art is far more satisfying than anything else I can imagine.

My photographs are documentary but I am not a photojournalist. I spend a lot of time with my subjects, so my projects often take several years to complete. I travel the United States and explore the construction of American identity. I am interested in subcultures and the ways people define and express themselves. I see photography as a collaboration and I enjoy making photos with people who have strong beliefs.

The biggest lesson I have learned is that it is impossible to be successful as an artist without the support of community. Also, understanding that your peers within that community are not your competition is crucial. When you lift each other up, everyone in the community benefits. When you undermine, or allow jealousy to keep you from helping others, you will only hurt yourself. Artists should only compete with artists who are long dead but whose names we still know and whose work still fills our museums. There is a reason the saying “standing on the shoulders of giants” exists and not “standing on the toes of your friends”.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My studio was in downtown Los Angeles for a long time and I still love taking visiting friends on what I called the Blade Runner + Art tour. We start at the Bradbury building, then pass by the Million Dollar Theater and have lunch at Central Market. If the Angel’s Flight railway is working we take that to the top and walk over to MOCA and/or the Broad Museum. After that we go to the Bonaventure hotel to ride the elevators and have drinks in the rotating restaurant and bar on the top floor. A trip to The Last Bookstore is also a must visit when downtown.

Los Angeles has so much to offer, so it is easy to create personalized itineraries for people. For fellow artists, LACMA and the Getty Museum are also on the list. Eating fish and chips at Neptune’s Net in Malibu while watching sunset is another favorite. Steaks and martinis at Musso & Franks, seeing a movie at a historic theater, and driving down Laurel Canyon while blasting The Doors are also quintessentially LA.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shoutout the most epic shoutouter I know, Mary Anna Pomonis, as well as my fellow artists and curators in The Association of Hysteric Curators. I’m sure Mary Anna was a matchmaker in a past life because she is very gifted at getting the right people in the room together. 11 years ago she gathered a group of us in her living room and we created a feminist collective that would be transgenerational in its makeup and democratic by process. Mentorship and creating opportunities for feminist artists and curators became the goals of the group. Over the past decade AHC has organized and curated over a dozen exhibitions and opportunities for feminist artists to show their work. All decisions are made by consensus, which can be very messy and time consuming, but also very satisfying. Committees are created to steer each exhibition and there are never fees to participate. We meet regularly and all members past and present are welcome to attend. There is never any judgement when someone does not participate. We know that sometimes people need the support of other artists, and other times they don’t. AHC is very fluid and I believe that has been the secret to its success.

Website: https://www.allison-stewart.com

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